Turbulent times for the leading index Dow Jones Industrial: A week ago it had fallen to its lowest level in more than a year, now it has recorded the largest percentage weekly gain in 18 months.
The US stock exchanges continued their recent recovery on Friday. After the price slide, especially from the end of April to mid-May, bargain hunters grabbed it again and used the supposedly cheap prices to get started, said stockbrokers.
In addition, over the course of the week, investors had taken the minutes of the US Federal Reserve Bank of the most recent interest rate meeting as evidence that monetary policy was only gradually tightened to combat high inflation. The leading index Dow Jones Industrial achieved the largest percentage weekly gain since November 2020 with a plus of 6.24 percent.
On Friday, the Dow entered the long weekend up 1.76 percent to 33,212.96 points after falling to its lowest level in more than a year seven days ago. The US stock market will remain closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.
The market-wide S
Consumer spending rises – consumer sentiment deteriorates
The latest US economic data meanwhile did not provide a uniform picture. On the one hand, consumer spending increased significantly in April. In addition, investors plagued by inflation worries were relieved to learn that price developments had weakened somewhat.
On the other hand, according to the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment deteriorated more than expected in May. “This recent drop is largely due to the continued negative view on current buying conditions for homes and durable goods,” commented Joanne Hsu, head of the survey.
Gap stocks rally
Looking at the individual stocks, investors reacted with fright at the start of trading to a drastically lowered profit forecast by the clothing retailer Gap. The shares had initially collapsed by more than 14 percent, but recovered quickly in the friendly environment and were up a good four percent in the end.
Among the few losers in the Nasdaq 100, the papers of the software provider Workday fell by 5.6 percent at the end of the index. Analysts justified this with orders postponed by customers in view of the economically uncertain situation.
Dell shares are increasing significantly
Dell Technologies’ shares soared 12.9 percent. The tech company increased revenue by a sixth last quarter thanks to strong demand for PCs. Ulta Beauty’s shares were up 12.5 percent after the cosmetics maker raised its annual sales and profit targets. This was enough for first place in the S
The euro remained on the rise and was last seen at $1.0728. The European Central Bank (ECB) set the reference rate at 1.0722 (Thursday: 1.0697) dollars. The dollar thus cost 0.9327 (0.9348) euros. The common currency was once again supported by the expected turnaround in interest rates in the euro zone. In view of the high inflation, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel expects the ECB to raise interest rates several times this year.
On the bond market, the futures contract for ten-year Treasuries (T-Note Future) fell by 0.04 percent to 120.55 points. The yield on ten-year government bonds was 2.74 percent.
